The present invention relates to head and back sheet for draping over the front of a seat back, and more particularly for use as a cover for the seat backs of mass transportation vehicles, such as railroad cars, buses, airplanes, or passenger cars.
It is common practice to attach to the top of the back of the seat of a mass transportation vehicle a sanitary head sheet draped over the front of the seat back and forming a disposable clean and sanitary surface engaged by the back of the head of a passenger sitting in the seat. Such head sheets are sometimes made of linen or fabric which are removed and laundered after each use, and which are reused after being laundered and sanitized. More often, however, the head sheets are made of relatively inexpensive linen or fabric-like paper material, and they are disposed of after each use.
Many arrangements have been provided for attaching a head sheet to a seat back, such as ordinary pins, safety pins, snaps, clips or the like. More conveniently, and more particularly on airplanes, the top of the seat back is provided with a band or strip of the hook-type pile or interlocking fabric generally sold under the tranemark "Velcro," and the head sheet is provided at an edge with a strip of loop-type low-cost Velcro material for removable attachment to the seat band of Velcro material.
On some mass transportation vehicles, more particularly on airplanes, cushions are also made available to the passengers. The cushions are conventional in shape, are of relatively small size and are provided with a removable disposable case.
Most passengers are inclined to relax and sleep, more particularly on airplanes where space is somewhat cramped, reclining adjustment of the seat back is rather limited, and walking through the aisles is generally discouraged. However, it is sometimes difficult for most passengers to be able to assume a relaxed and comfortable position in a rather confined space in a relatively narrow seat, and unless the passenger is able to assume a position permitting him to support the side of his head back against a cushion, his head, when asleep or dozing, tends to wobble from side to side, which leads to irritating successive periods of rest and full awakedness. It is readily apparent that seats could be provided with a back having an appropriate recess for the back of the head or with built-in headrests. However, seats with built-in headrests are expensive and are not generally provided on mass transportation vehicles and, even if provided, they would still present some inconveniences as the position of the headrest is fixed.
In a co-pending application, Ser. No. 947,501 there is described a variety of disposable adjustable headrests, convertible to pillows or cushions, which may be used as such or in combination with conventional head sheets and preferably in combination with the head sheets of the invention permitting to readily attach thereto such adjustable disposable headrests.